Technical Field
The present teaching relates to surgical procedure assistance. More specifically, the present teaching is directed methods, systems, and programming for displaying a timing signal for surgical instrument insertion in surgical procedures.
Discussion of Technical Background
In image-guided interventional procedures, such as needle biopsy or tumor ablation, interventional radiologists place needles or ablation probes based on images taken of the patient immediately before the procedure. For safety reasons, a needle may be inserted stepwise toward the target. Rather a needle may be advanced toward the target step-by-step, and after each needle pass, new images are taken of the patient for verification and/or adjustment of needle position and orientation in order to make the next needle advancement. This process is repeated until the target is reached. This is particular true for lesions located close to critical organs, such as major blood vessels, heart, etc. The imaging modalities used for such needle guidance may include, but not limited to computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or ultrasound (US).
Since radiologists' decision about needle adjustment and/or needle advancement is based on images taken a few minutes ago, it is important that the patient condition at the time of needle insertion be kept as close as possible to that at image acquisition. Patient movements or breathing may both contribute to the target location changes. While patient movements may be minimized through appropriate measures, such as communications with patients, breathing may need a more quantitative method to control and monitor. Breath holding may not be a viable method since there is no guarantee that the patient may hold the same breath. Besides, some patients may not be able to hold their breath due to health conditions.
With the recent technological advances in magnetic position sensors, methods have been developed that can track needle positions in real-time, so that needle guidance may be performed in a GPS-like manner. From the sensor positions in the images and real-time sensor positions during patient breathing, a timing signal may be extracted that can indicate the best time for needle insertion. This timing signal may be displayed as a curve, similar to the display of an electrocardiogram (EKG) signal on a monitor. Interventional radiologists perform needle insertion or advancement by catching a moment according to the timing-signal display. However, during needle guidance the physicians' visual attention is on the target lesion displayed on the screen. A curve-like display of the timing signal on a different location of the screen is not intuitive and it is difficult for physicians to act upon while at the same time operating the needle. Therefore, there is a need to provide an improved solution to solve the above-mentioned problems.